Online resources for making it thru the holidays sober

Today is my sober birthday, and it’s still weird for me to say that I’ve been sober 24 years. I never planned on stopping using, much less staying stopped. I was fully content to stay loaded until I died and never love anyone – myself included.

Yeah, well. That plan didn’t pan out. I got sober, and stayed there the first time around. That’s not to say that I’m that wonderfully devoted to hardcore maintenance of my program; I’m not. Even after this long there’s still hard work to be done and there always will be.

Some people don’t have it as lucky as I have. Some are hanging on by their bloody fingernails just to get thru the damn holidays and make it another hour sober. Unfortunately some won’t make it. Here are some online resources compiled by The Fix if you need them. If all else fails, email me or hit me on Skype (look for sayencrowolf) I can usually respond within 30 minutes.

Peace…d

Chat Meetings Like the AOL chat rooms from back in the day, but less creepy. Here is a comprehensive list of online meetings. InTheRooms.com is hosting around-the-clock holiday marathon meetings. And this website hosts three or four daily: you join the room and use “!” to enter the queue to share and “?” to ask a question. Being notified of people entering and exiting during your share can be stressful… The solution? Give a better share! (Just kidding. Feelings aren’t facts.) Alkies.org is a great resource, as is XAT.

Video Chats If you don’t mind Skyping with strangers, these can give you a warm sense of community. Cathleen, a 35-year-old touring musician based in Brooklyn, tells us that she recommends Recovery Chat: “On the road I like the meetings on this site because there’s the option to use your webcam and it’s nice to see other people.” The site has video and non-video chats and is available 24/7. This European AA site also holds daily Skype meetings.

Phone Meetings If you want to hear real live voices in a more traditional way, try this. You call in, mute your phone and then un-mute it when it’s your turn to speak. The AA Telephone Meetings grouphosts one meeting every weeknight and two on weekends.

Spiritual Emails Small daily doses of spirituality may help keep you going. Among the best emails areHazelden’s Today’s Gift—touching on things like generosity, relationships and keeping your side of the street clean. Email meetings and gratitude lists are also available. If you’re a Spanish speaker,here’s an email group in Spanish. And if you’re a woman, you might find GROW useful.

Speaker Tapes Download these guys to listen to while the rest of your family is drinking beer and watching football. This site has expanded its catalogue to include speaker tapes that span all of the As: AA, Al-Anon, CA, CDA, DA, DAA, GA, GSA, MA, NA, OA, SA and SAA. If you’re in AA, Joe andCharlie come recommended.

Facebook Why not organize a Facebook group for some of your favorite people from your home meeting? Make it private and post silly pictures of yourselves from your drunken days so you don’t feel so alone. It helps.